IN 2014:
6. Every Best New Artist nominee is white
7. Every Record of the Year and Song of the Year nominee is white
8. It's not a case of black artists not selling as much as white artists
9. The Grammys are still using "urban" to denote "black"
10. White artists making music influenced by black culture get treated differently
11. Bonus
http://www.thefader.com/2014/12/12/10-reasons-the-grammys-are-as-white-as-you-think-they-are
6. Every Best New Artist nominee is white
Glancing back up at Drake's "Hood Grammys" nominees—all of whom have had massive years—it seems impossible to grasp that all the nominations for Best New Artist have gone to white artists. To give the Grammys the benefit of the doubt, their list aligns neatly with the Billboard list of the top breakthrough artists of the year (based on sales, airplay and streaming)—Iggy Azalea, Sam Smith and Bastille all feature prominently on both. In this case, their choices seem to be purely about algorithms rather than cultural innovation or impact—which is not ideal, but reveals the logic behind the all-white choices.
Across past years, though, a bias has revealed itself towards white artists, for example with Nicki Minaj losing to Bon Iver in 2012, and Frank Ocean losing out in 2013 to fun. Interestingly, Minaj's debut album opened at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, which was the same as Bon Iver's sophomore album released the same year (though she sold 375,000 copies in the first week after release, in comparison to Bon Iver's 104,000). Ocean's debut, channel ORANGE, peaked at two, with fun.'s 2012 sophomore album peaking at three (their previous album peaked at 71). Bon Iver and fun. were both on their second albums, and—in a purely economic sense—performing as well as, or worse than, their black competitors' debuts. So the decision can't be seen as a purely chart-driven one.
Across past years, though, a bias has revealed itself towards white artists, for example with Nicki Minaj losing to Bon Iver in 2012, and Frank Ocean losing out in 2013 to fun. Interestingly, Minaj's debut album opened at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, which was the same as Bon Iver's sophomore album released the same year (though she sold 375,000 copies in the first week after release, in comparison to Bon Iver's 104,000). Ocean's debut, channel ORANGE, peaked at two, with fun.'s 2012 sophomore album peaking at three (their previous album peaked at 71). Bon Iver and fun. were both on their second albums, and—in a purely economic sense—performing as well as, or worse than, their black competitors' debuts. So the decision can't be seen as a purely chart-driven one.
7. Every Record of the Year and Song of the Year nominee is white
Combined with Best New Artist and Album of the Year, these two categories make up the "Big Four" at the Grammys, aka the categories everyone cares about. There's no love for rap or R&B hits like Kendrick Lamar's "i" (which is nominated for Best Rap Performance), Chris Brown's "New Flame" (nominated for Best R&B Performance), Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda" (Best Rap Song), Jeremih's "Don't Tell 'Em," or Usher's "She Came To Give It To You."
8. It's not a case of black artists not selling as much as white artists
We could be cynical and assume that the Academy only picks the music with the highest sales for the "big four" categories, but even more explicitly "pop" songs from black artists, which moved more units than "Chandelier" or "Fancy," have been ignored. Pharrell's ubiquitous "Happy" outsold everything in 2014, yet he gets a nod for Album of the Year and not Record or Song (Sam Smith, on the other hand, has nabbed nominations for Album, Record and Song). John Legend's huge tearjerker "All of Me," third on Billboard's Hot 100 songs of 2014, got a Best Pop Solo Performance nomination, but somehow didn't cut it for the primary categories. Meanwhile Katy Perry's trap-absorbing "Dark Horse," which featured a verse from Juicy J, gets a miss despite being the second biggest single of the year (again according to Billboard) and the most-watched YouTube video.
9. The Grammys are still using "urban" to denote "black"
In 2013, the Grammys introduced the "Urban Contemporary" category, ostensibly as an intermediary between the Pop and R&B categories (the R&B one, meanwhile, in the words of Grantland's Rembert Browne, had morphed into "this middle ground between pop and rap"). So far, the winners of that award have been Frank Ocean and Rihanna, both of whom could have swept the Album of the Year and Pop Vocal Album categories if the world was good and fair. In that same Grantland article last year, Browne went on to declare the 2013 nominations "a mess," adding that the annual event would probably continue to be so "until the word 'urban' no longer is used as a safe conduit to describe 'black' things… Don't hold your breath."
Really, don't hold it. So far, in its short lifespan, every nominee in the Urban Contemporary category has been black, with nods going to Beyoncé, Pharrell, Jhene Aiko, Chris Brown and Mali Music this year. Apart from race, what distinguishes them from the nominees for Best Pop Vocal Album (Ariana Grande, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Sam Smith, Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus) is unclear. Even the people on the judging panel don't seem to know exactly what Urban Contemporary is, having placed Beyoncé's "Drunk in Love" in the categories for Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song, despite not labeling Beyoncé an R&B album.
Really, don't hold it. So far, in its short lifespan, every nominee in the Urban Contemporary category has been black, with nods going to Beyoncé, Pharrell, Jhene Aiko, Chris Brown and Mali Music this year. Apart from race, what distinguishes them from the nominees for Best Pop Vocal Album (Ariana Grande, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Sam Smith, Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus) is unclear. Even the people on the judging panel don't seem to know exactly what Urban Contemporary is, having placed Beyoncé's "Drunk in Love" in the categories for Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song, despite not labeling Beyoncé an R&B album.
10. White artists making music influenced by black culture get treated differently
It's especially interesting to see Miley—an artist who built her whole album campaign and new sonic direction last year around the grotesque appropriation of black culture—being labelled as Pop rather than Urban Contemporary.
Meanwhile, this year Iggy Azalea became the first ever rapper to be nominated for both Best Rap Album and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for her own song (as opposed to Best Rap/Sung Collaboration). Juicy J and Nicki Minaj also rear their heads in the Pop Duo category, but as featured artists on tracks by Katy Perry and Jessie J; Iggy is the first rapper whose own song, from her own album, is being treated as "Pop," while the album itself is "Rap." Apparently, if you're a white woman, you don't have to be confined to the Urban or Rap categories; and don't forget, Iggy is also the only rapper nominated this year in the Best New Artist and Record of the Year categories. Move over Macklemore. If our discomfort with this year's nominations could be personified in one performer, Iggy Azalea would be it.
Meanwhile, this year Iggy Azalea became the first ever rapper to be nominated for both Best Rap Album and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for her own song (as opposed to Best Rap/Sung Collaboration). Juicy J and Nicki Minaj also rear their heads in the Pop Duo category, but as featured artists on tracks by Katy Perry and Jessie J; Iggy is the first rapper whose own song, from her own album, is being treated as "Pop," while the album itself is "Rap." Apparently, if you're a white woman, you don't have to be confined to the Urban or Rap categories; and don't forget, Iggy is also the only rapper nominated this year in the Best New Artist and Record of the Year categories. Move over Macklemore. If our discomfort with this year's nominations could be personified in one performer, Iggy Azalea would be it.
11. Bonus
Vote 4 Cham 2014 - Mod of the Year
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